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I'm 61, a Southern California liberal Democrat. Barbara Boxer is my Senator and (God help me) Daryl Issa is my Representative. I'm surrounded by RW zealots and even some Birchers. I'm also proud that Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi represent my state. I think there should be many, many more women in congress. I'm sure it would be a much better body (no pun). Thanks DU for an outlet.

President Barack Obama has signed into law a $633 billion US defense spending bill that funds the war in Afghanistan and boosts security at US missions worldwide.

“I have approved this annual defense authorization legislation, as I have in previous years, because it authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the world,” Obama said in a statement early Thursday after signing the measure.

WASHINGTON — Reflecting a war-weary nation, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday for an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting.

The strong bipartisan vote of 62-33 sends a clear message to President Obama and the military as they engage in high-stakes talks about the pace of drawing down the 68,000 U.S. troops, with a White House announcement expected within weeks.

Should there be any doubt about how residents of Europe’s debt-stricken nations really feel about austerity, violent protests in Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy on Wednesday should serve as a poignant reminder. In all, 23 European nations took part in the so-called “European Day of Action and Solidarity” organized by the European Trade Union Confederation. Not surprisingly, protesters in the countries suffering from the deepest austerity cuts were the most violent. “Austerity is a total dead end, and must be abandoned,” said the website where the group’s call for action was posted. “Social protection and wages can no longer be sacrificed.”

Across Italy, an estimated 300,000 demonstrators took to the streets in 100 cities. Protesters broke windows and blocked the central train station in Naples. They set fires in Brescia and charged at police in Bologna. In Turin, 20 delinquents seriously injured a police officer with baseball bats, fracturing his skull. In Florence, angry mobs plastered bank windows with rotten eggs and defaced the normally pristine city center with profane graffiti. In Pisa, a group of angry protesters briefly occupied the historic Leaning Tower of Pisa, hanging a sign that read “Rise Up. We are not paying for your Euro crisis.”